Magic Evasion

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Magic Evasion(魔回, Makai?), also called M.Evade, MBlock%, and Magic def%, is a recurring statistic in the Final Fantasy series. It is similar to its counterpart stat Evasion, but instead of working against physical attacks, works against magical attacks, and at a much lesser rate in terms of avoiding damage.

In the 2D versions there are two statistics which determine whether a spell will be a hit or a miss; the spell hit rate, and the target's Magic Evasion. Each spell has its own base hit rate. Some spells have 100% hit rate, such as curative spells, but some, especially the status effect inflicting spells, have lower hit rates. Spells cast via weapons/items ignore the spell's hit rate.

There are ways to affect a spell's base hit rate.

A bonus to hit rate is given to based on the stat the spell is powered by:

If the caster is afflicted with Blind, the spell's base hit rate is halved.

The spell's hit rate is boosted by 25% if the caster is in "Slot 1". For the characters, it is the middle slot. For monsters, it is the front most spot, but can change as they are killed. Bosses by default are in the front most spot, so always get the boost.

Another factor that affects whether a spell will hit or not is the Magic Evasion. The characters have a base Magic Evasion value, which is:

$ ( [Int + Spi]/8 ) $ + Magic Evasion from equipment.

In the 3D versions, characters can no longer evade spells that deal damage, but is the rate the characters can evade being inflicted by a status.

Some spells always hit, and curative and buffing spells always hit when targeted at party members. Offensive spells' accuracy is decided by the caster's Spell Hit % and the target's Magic Evasion %. When the player equips the Aegis Shield they have a random chance of evading a spell, which is separate from their actual Magic Evasion statistic.

If the spell is multi-targeted the Spell Hit% is halved. Spells that are naturally multi-target do not suffer the penalty. If the target has Shell, the Spell Hit% is also halved, and if the target is a Toad its Evade % is reduced to 0.

The game generates two random numbers between 0 and 99.

If N1 >= Hit%, the spell misses

If N2 < Evade%, the spell misses

In other words, even if the target does not evade the attack, the attacker can still miss.

Magic Evasion was called MBlock% in the older translations. Due to a bug in the game coding, Magic Evasion affects both evasion to magical attacks and evasion to physical attacks, and the regular Evasion stat does nothing. Magic Evasion is an equipment statistic, but most equipment don't offer any Magic Evasion. The best equipment pieces for Magic Evasion are the Force Shield (50%) and the Force Armor (30%).

Most spells use the following formula to decide if a spell hits or not:

$ Evasion = (255 - Magic Evasion * 2) + 1 $

The Evasion can be a value between 1-255; if, from the above formula, it comes to less or more, it is set to 1 or 255, respectively.

If the target has Invisible status, any spell will always hit. This creates the famous glitch where Invisible targets lose their immunity to instant death. Some spells are also unblockable, such as Quake, although the party can use Float to immunize themselves. If the target is afflicted with Sleep, Petrify, Freeze or Stop attacks always hit.

Targets can be hit 100% of the time with physical attacks when hit from the back, but this doesn't work for magical attacks. Spells auto-cast from weapons can't be evaded, such as how Ragnarok randomly casts Flare.

A spell will hit its target 100% of the time under any of the following conditions:

The hit rate of the spell is 255.

The spell is of an element to which the target is immune or absorbs.

The target has Reflect status and the spell can be Reflected.

The spell does not inflict a status ailment and the target already has any of the following statuses: Sleep, Confusion, Stop, Paralyze, Petrify, or Death.

If none of the above conditions apply, the party member's chance of evading a magical attack is simply the Magic def% listed on his or her armor. Even if the character does not evade the spell, the caster still has a chance to miss.

Spells' accuracy is decided by the spell itself, and the target's Magic Evasion. The spells that have a chance of missing are mainly all status spells, as well as Comet and Meteor, but Comet and Meteor's hit chance is random and unaffected by the target's Magic Evasion. The spells' accuracy values are as follows:

Magic Evasion is a stat that can mainly be found on equipment pieces. However, the stat is "hidden" as there is no way for a player to display their current total magic evasion. This stat is used to determine two things―whether a spell effect lands on a target, and to what extent magic is resisted.

Like evasion, magic evasion is used to determine whether a spell effect (such as Sleep) lands on a target, the outcome of which is either a hit or miss. If the effect lands, there is a possibility that its duration may be partially resisted due to magic evasion. For example, the Sleep spell lasts for 60 seconds if not resisted, but may instead last for 30 seconds due to a partial resist.

However, for magical damage, which cannot outright miss, magic evasion is instead used to determine how much the magic is resisted. This is shown by fractional damage reduction. When magic damage is resisted, it is typically a half resist (1/2 damage taken), quarter resist (1/4 damage taken) a 1/8th resist or the lowest which is a 1/16th resist.

Magic Evasion is a shield statistic, however, only three shields in the game have any Magic Evasion. The evasion chance can be boosted further by purchasing Shield Block augments on the License Board (each augment adds +5% to shield evasion) and by equipping the Gauntlets accessory.

The strongest bosses, however, such as Zodiark and Yiazmat, ignore shield evasion. One can't evade attacks while fleeing. Magick Evasion does not block status effect spells, such as Poison.

Magic Evasion is a stat that controls the ability to resist a spell, as well as attacks and weaponskills with elemental properties. It can be increased only via the use of certain Materia and equipment; Only resists against spells are clearly displayed on the damage log with the message "(Player) partially resists (enemy)'s (ability)".

Resists may reduce damage by 25, 50 or 75%. With high enough MEVA in comparison to the enemy' magic accuracy, it's possible to always resist spells by at least 25%. It has been noted that notorious monsters usually have high magic accuracy and require very high MEVA for resists to happen. Certain abilities cannot be resisted at all.

This applies to most magic attacks, whether they are status-inducing or damage-causing. Also, a unit will not try to evade attacks that are curative or that add helpful status. However, these can still miss based on a target's Zodiac Compatibility, and on the Faith scores of the caster and target.